Adjustable chair.



L. G. SGHUSSMANN.

ADJUSTABLE CHAIR. Arrmoulox nun 113.16, 1901.

2 sums-sum 1.

Z r I INVENTOR.

No. 892,315. PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908. L. G. SGHUSSMANN.

ADJUSTABLE CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1907.

2' SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT onnron.

Specification of Letters Patent.

\ Patented June 30, 1908.

Application filed February 15, 1907. Serial Nb. 357,494.

To an whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, LEO G; SOHUSSMANN,

a citizen of the United States, residing in Sheboy State 0 an, in the county of Sheboygan and Wisconsin, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Adjustable Chairs, of which the following is a specification. The im rovement may apply to a great variety of styles of chairs. I will show a plain and simple form. It is firm in resisting any backward force imparted by the sitter or by any other person, but it is always ready The user of the chair 0 rearward position.

show the working parts in to be shifted-forward.

There may be ornaments and additional mechanism for any purpose, but the object of 'my'invention is to avoid the necessity for mechanism and also for any consumption of time and for any considerable labor in effecting the adjustment, and reliably and strongly holding the back in any required position. an, by simply leaning forward and then shifting it rearward and partly forward again, efiect a complete and strong adjustment.

The movements are easily made and the operator may remain seated through the whole of the very brief period required. It absolutely forbids any displacement rearward, except after an unusual extreme forward movement. There will usually be suf- 1mparted sufficient, to revent its beings 'fted forward too easily. provide means for delicately adjusting the conditions so as to change the action when required.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the chair adjusted, and Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2 2'in Fig. 1. The remaining figures down to Fig. 9 are diagrammatic. They side elevation in the several relations which they assume at different periods. Fig. 3 is a side elevation corresponding to Fig. 1. It shows the parts adjusted-itjis desired to readjust with the back at a greater inclination. Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the back pulled forward to its extreme front position. Fig. 5 is a corresponding elevation showing it in a middle )osition in the act of being moved idly backward or as I prefer to term it, rearward. Fig. 6 shows the back in its extreme Fig. 7 shows the back being moved slowly forward. Fig. 8 shows the Fig. 9 shows the chair-back again pressed rearward by a person sitting in the chair and bearing back, or by any other means. All these are side elevations. F ig. 10 is a plan view of the movable plate detached, seen from below.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they occur.

A is the rigid body of the chair, B is an adjustable back and B the line of the pivots serving as the center therefor.

C is a stout awl, which I will refer to as the dog, pivoted at C to the lower end of the back B, and arranged to present its working end C in the roper relation to engage with a succession o teeth A formed on the under side of the chair seat, 'or on a suitable bar introduced to carry such teeth.

D is a spring mounted on the fixed frame work of the chair ur 'ing the dog upward.

E is a movable pdate extending forward slow forward movement arrested,.and

tent. I have shown the guidance and this .1 limitin as botheffectedb thesame means two b0 ts or studs G an H set in thelower side of the seat A, adjacent to the teeth A. These studs'have heads which lie below and their bodies extend upward through a slot e in the plate E. The heads G H sup ort the plate E and both the bodies G and H serve as guides for the plate and also as stops meetingthe ends of the slot 6 whenever the plate is moved endwise until they are struck.

K is a pawl which may be quite light pivoted to O at K carr ing a hook K and a swell K It is presse( upward by a spring L abutting on the dog 0. One end K the front end, is knuckled to a point near the midlength of the dog C. The free end, the rear end, is hook-formed as indicated. The proportions of these several parts being about as shown, the stout )awl or (log L reaches up past the front end of the plate E (see Fig. 3) and engages in one of the notches A and holds the back firmly against being pressed rearward any further. But when sufiicient force is applied in the direction to pull the chair-back forward, it yields thereto, thereby drawing rearward the dog 0, and by the pressure of its inclined surface 0 against the front edge of the late E, causes that plate to gently but rehabl move rearward therewith. The back can t us be shifted forward at any time, to any extent desired and on being released will be held in the new position by the dog C engaging in a different notch.

lVhen the back, rocking on the axis B is drawn forward to its extreme forward position, its lower edge has moved rearward and a new condition obtains. The plate E has been arrested by the screw G being received inthe front end of the slot e and cannot move further rearward. Now the extreme forward motion of the back 13 draws the dog C further rearward and its smooth inclined surface C pressed against the front edge of the plate E is drawn downward against the force of the spring D and commences to ride under the plate E. This condition is shown in Fig. 4. The same movement of the dog C rearward and slightly downward carried further .has presented the hook pawl K in such position that beingpressed upward by the spring L its hook K has engaged with the rear end of the plate E. Now while the parts remain in this condition, the back B of the chair may be moved rearward freely the dog C does not forbid it because that dog is held down out of action by the interposed plate E. The sitter can now, if he chooses,

move the chair-back at once through the whole range of its motion to the extreme backward position. I" will describe it as thus worked, This first movement rearward, at once or more moderately, makes the hook K let go of the plate E (see Fig. 6). It does this by bringing the rounded swell K of the hook K into contact with the rounded head J of the screw J which screw extends, otherwise idly, through the slot 2. This is certain to occur at a late stage of the movement and 'rnay occur much earlier if the screw J is adjusted low enough. Any time a second forward movement of the back, and consequent rearward movement of the dog, may be made after such disengagement of the hook pawl, and the hook K being no longer engaged, the plate E. will remain in its forward osition, orit may move rearward, but it is idle, and the whole series of notches A are exposed and ready to be engaged in succession by. the dog CL With the parts thus favorably conditioned- (see Fig. 7) he brings the back B cautiously forward, the dog 0 snapping successively into the several notches A. When he has reached the angle of the back which suits him, he stops and on leaning back in the chair, or otherwise moving the back rearward enough totake up the v slack, the adjustment isfcompleted.

The screw J with its head J should be a screw equipped with an ordinaryfscore for allowing the screw to be turned by a screwdriver and screwed upward so as to be less prominent or unscrewed so as to be more prominent, in order to act'on the swell K just right. It must allow the hook K to keep engaged during the first part of the rearward movement of the back 1n adjusting and be certain to liberate it at theextreme rearward position.

The operation being peculiar a repetition in different words may be allowable. In the normal u right osition of the back, as shown in ig. 3, the dog C is held in engagement with the teeth A by the spring D, and the pawl K is held in inoperative position against the underside of the plate E by the spring L. Assuming the dog C to be now in engagement with the most rearward tooth A in order to secure a different inclination of the back, the latter must be moved forward as shown in Fig. 4 whereupon the inclined surface C engages the front edge of the late E,-causing such plate to move rearwan ly. This is continued until the plate has reached its rearward limit of movement. Further forward movement of the back causes the end C to be depressed and to slide beneath the plate E and soon after the pawl K to engage the rear of the plate E which position is shown in Fig. 4. The back can now late.

be swung rearwardly, as in Fig. 5, the E being moved forwardly by the pawl and holding the end C out of engagement with the teeth A reached its limit of rearward movement the swell K engages the head J of the screw J and thereby the pawl K is thrown out of en- Further rearward gagement with the late. movement causes t e end 0 to engage the forward tooth A as in Fi '.'5. The back can now be adjustedforwardly ste Jay-step, the late E being moved rearwar y by the dog 2, as shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9.

Modifications may be made without departing from the-principle or sacrificing the advantages 'of the 1nvention.

The number and size of the teeth A may bevaried. It may be ordinarily preferable to duplicate the construction and have one 'on each side of the chair;

The rounded-head J may be fixed instead of adjustable. Any other iece may besubstituted for it, taking care t at it is presented at a proper stage of the motion of the chairback. to disengage the hook-pawl K from the plate E.

Although -I have used the term chair in the title for brevity, and have described the When the back has nearly invention as applied to a chair, so-calle d, it is obvious that it may bemade to apply longer structures we call lounges.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an adjustable chair, the combination with a body provided with teeth, of aback movably connected thereto, a dog adapted to engage said teeth and said back and operated by the latter, a hook pawl engaging said dog,

a shield plate for the teeth r'novablyconn'ectto the ed to said body and operated by said do and said pawl and means for engagin and Eisengagin said pawl and said shield p ate.

2. n an adjustable chair a chair-body carrying a series of teeth, an adjustable back pivoted to the body and carrying a dog adapted to engage with such teeth. a spring for yieldingly urging such dog upward a plate mounted between ada ted to permit such engagement or to keep tie dog out of the engagement according as such plate is placed, a hook pawl carried by said dog and a spring for yieldingly urging such pawl into engagement with such plate.

3. An adjustable chair comprising a chairbody carrying a series of teeth, an adjustable back pivoted to the body and carrying a dog adapted to engage with such teeth, a plate mounted between and a hook pawl pivoted to such dog, the two being adapted to move the plate forward and backward.

4. An ad j ustable chair comprising a chairbody carrying a series of teeth, an adjustable back pivoted to the body and carrying a dog adapted to engage with such teeth, a plate adapted to permit or forbid the en agement of t e dog according as itis place a hook pawl operated also by the chair-back for operatin the plate in one direction and provisions fbr engaging the hook with the plate at one end of its motion andfor detaching the hook from the plate before it has reached the other end of its motion.

- 5. An adjustable chair comprising a chairbody carrying a series of teeth, an adjustable back pivoted to the body and carrying a dog adapted to engage with such teeth, a plate ada ted to permit or forbid the engagement of tie dog according as it is placed a hook pawl pivoted to such dog and a screw J J set adjustably in the chair-body adapted to contact with the such pawl and. eiiect the disengagement thereof from the plate when required.

6. A chair-body A, series of stationary teeth A, adjustable back B, dog 0 operated by the back and engaging in said teeth a hook pawl pivoted to such dog and a plate E servlng under some conditions-to revent such engagement, and screws G ll extending through the slot e in such plate having heads G H arranged. to serve the double functions of guides and stops for the late and the screw J J which erforms the uty of detaching the hook aw at easily adjustable points.

Signed at heboygan, Wisconsin, this 4th day of February 1907.

LEO G. SCHUSSMANN.

Witnesses CHAUNCEY A. HYATT, HUGO E. SPERLING. 

